Prince Andrew 'repeatedly refusing to be served with sexual assault lawsuit'
Prince Andrew is avoiding being served with a sexual assault lawsuit, his accuser’s lawyer has reportedly claimed.
David Boies, the lawyer for Virginia Giuffre, told ABC News in the US that the prince had stopped appearing in public to avoid being served with papers.
Giuffre, who has said she was abused by notorious paedophile Jeffrey Epstein, claims the Duke of York sexually assaulted her when she was under the age of 18 in London.
"Process servers have shown up at his residence, and they have refused to take the summons and refused to let the process servers in to serve," Boies told ABC News on Friday.
Boies, chairman of New York law firm Boies Schiller Flexner, which represents Ms Giuffre, said of the prince: “He has stopped coming out in public. He has been moving around.”
Earlier this week, the prince, 61, was pictured arriving at Balmoral Castle to stay with the Queen.
The civil suit against the duke by Ms Giuffre, now 38, was issued last month. At the time, Boies said Prince Andrew would be served the papers in person.
It stated: "It is long past the time for him to be held to account.”
Prince Andrew has “categorically” denied he abused Ms Giuffre.
The lawsuit seeking unspecified damages claims Ms Giuffre, then known as Virginia Roberts, was “lent out for sexual purposes” by convicted sex offender Epstein, an acquaintance of the duke’s who took his own life in jail in August 2019.
The suit alleges that Epstein had “12 different contact numbers listed for Prince Andrew”.
It claims the prince forced Giuffre to “engage in sex acts against her will”.
The British socialite Ghislaine Maxwell, Epstein’s former girlfriend, is mentioned throughout the lawsuit, which includes the infamous photo of Prince Andrew, Ms Giuffre and Maxwell at Maxwell’s home. The duke has previously said he has no memory of this photo.
It also alleges that Maxwell forced Ms Giuffre and “another victim to sit on Prince Andrew’s lap as Prince Andrew touched her” at Epstein’s New York mansion.
In a Newsnight interview with the BBC’s Emily Maitlis in November 2019, Prince Andrew denied claims he slept with Giuffre on three separate occasions, saying: “I can absolutely categorically tell you it never happened. I have no recollection of ever meeting this lady, none whatsoever.”
Maxwell faces trial in November having pleaded not guilty to sex trafficking charges.
Last month, Boies accused Prince Andrew of being “totally uncooperative”, saying he and his legal team, Blackfords, had failed to engage with him and his client for five years.
According to ABC News, Blackfords wrote a letter on 6 September to a British judicial official complaining that Giuffre's legal team were not following correct procedure in their highly publicised pursuit of the Duke.
The letter reportedly contends that any request for Andrew to comply with the lawsuit should come via a judicial or diplomatic officer in the United States and not from Giuffre's own legal team.
Yahoo News UK has asked Blackfords for comment.
An initial hearing in Ms Giuffre's lawsuit is scheduled for Monday.
Boies told ABC News he plans to tell the court that attempts have been made to serve Prince Andrew at his residence, as well as by email.
Watch: Prince Andrew sued by Epstein accuser Virginia Giuffre
